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Bottas: I never looked elsewhere

4 December 2013 – Valtteri Bottas has revealed he was confident he would get to stay with Williams in 2014 and that he never had talks with any other teams.

Bottas made his debut at the pinnacle of the sport this year and while it was a difficult season, given the FW35 was uncompetitive beast, the Finn still made his mark on occasion, qualifying third in Canada for example, and then taking a very encouraging eighth place finish in the USA, breaking his F1 points’ duck in the process. The result at the Circuit of the Americas followed confirmation six days earlier that he would remain with Williams in 2014.

“Somehow I knew that after the season it would not be game over for me,” Bottas told the official F1 site. “Staying with Williams was always the only option for me so I never had any other talks or was looking around. I was always convinced that if I performed at my best, it should be enough to stay.”

“It’s fantastic to see how the whole Williams team has trusted me for many years now, first as a test driver, then in a race seat, and now with another year with the team,” he added.

“That makes me humble and thankful because without Williams I would not be in F1, so I hope that we will have a long and successful future together.

“It is my family away from home.”

Bottas is now looking forward to working with new team-mate Felipe Massa and believes the ex-Ferrari man will help the Grove-based outfit go forward.

“I think for us as a team, Felipe arriving at this point is a good thing. He has got a lot of experience and probably comes with different ideas and views that might help us. He was almost a world champion - at least for 30 seconds - so it is going to be interesting - and he looks like a nice guy so I am looking forward to working with him,” Bottas added.

“I met him at the Williams announcement, but we’ll have time in the winter to get to know each other better and exchange ideas.

"I have no doubt that he is quick, but the nature of F1 - and especially the nature of a team-mate relationship - is that you want to be faster than him. I am no exception to that rule! But we also have to work closely together to push the team forward.”

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